The Wealth Mentor’s Formula to Creating True Financial Freedom

Yeah, I think anybody who's watching this as a video can immediately see that I don't look like a typical finance professional. I'm a down to earth person. I practice what I preach. I'm following the exact same path and taking my own advice. And I went from a multi six figure negative net worth to creating now a six million dollar business with a multi seven figure net worth and creating financial freedom at 32. And I'm living financial freedom now.

Welcome to the Scale or Fail show. This is Allison Maslin. I am your host. I am so excited because what we focus on is helping CE CEOs and founders scale their business. You can take the long road or you can take the toll road and we want to get you there so much faster. And that's why I'm so excited because I have one of the top wealth experts in the world on the Scale or Fail podcast today. So how blessed are we? And it's Jackson Milan and he is coming to us from Australia and so let me just quickly introduce him and then we will dive right into the show. Jackson Milan is the wealth mentor and he has spent the last 14 years helping service businesses understand the language of money and manufacture financial freedom for themselves and their family. Such a huge, huge, huge topic, especially as we're here in the new year. And he has successfully helped over a thousand clients billed in excess of 1.5 billion with a B dollars in combined wealth and has scaled multiple seven figure businesses. He is a master of helping business owners make money, work for them and turn their business profit into personal wealth. So Jackson, thank you so much for coming on the Scale or Fail show. How are you?

I'm doing very well, thanks for having me. I'm very excited to have a chat and share some, hopefully some gold nuggets with your audience.

Yeah, well, you know, it's. See we get into business, right, and we have this product or service, we have this big dream. But most business owners don't really know a lot about building wealth, right? I mean I know I took spent years taking my savings and putting it into my business and so I'm so excited to learn from you. Now they call you the wealth mentor. But how did you get here?

Yeah, great question.

How did you work up your way to being this wealth expert? I'd love to know that.

Yeah, this all started with my parents, Alison. My parents were business owners. They were blue collar business owners. They were very much working class, had basically worked incredibly hard for everything that they'd ever created. My mum was a hairdresser she tried very hard to create a successful salon. And my old man had tried his hand at every single trade business that you could possibly imagine. But the grass was always greener on the other side. But they always said to me as a kid, they said, Jackson, if you want to be successful in this world, you need to work hard for it. And I watched them work 16 hour days, 7 days a week for as long as I could remember. But I realized as a kid realizing something was wrong, that they were working for money as opposed to money working for them. And then when I became an adult and I started going out into my career, I started training to become a financial advisor. And I very quickly realized that financial advisors want to help people who already have money or want to sell commission based products to people like my parents who don't really need them. And I just didn't really resonate with me. And I asked myself the question, if I really want to help people like my parents who have not much, who don't understand the language of money, and I want to help them create the right financial foundation where they can get on the right track for financial freedom, what would I call myself? And I called myself a wealth coach and then came on to become the wealth mentor. And basically I've been working with my clients, to them back in the driver's seat, to take their money and their wealth seriously and then to have a system that allows them to turn business profits into personal wealth. And it's been one hell of a ride so far.

Oh my gosh. This is music to my ears. And I am sure so many business owners that are listening right now. So what are like you think of your parents and I'm sure so many business owners that you talk to. What do you feel are the biggest mistakes business owners make when planning or not planning for their wealth in their future?

Yeah, the big one, the number one problem and mistake that business owners make is they treat their business as if it is the destination, not the vehicle to get them there. And the problem with this is that we're so invested in our business. We love our business. I've even had clients call their business their baby. But the problem with that is because we pour so much blood, sweat and tears into our business, we measure ourselves by the vanity metrics that our business is able to achieve as opposed to, to the real tangible outcomes that it should be achieving, coupled with the fact that we've only got to look at any rich list around the world, that as a business owner, you're an elite Club that you've got entrepreneurs like your musks and your Gates and all of these other names that we know that are synonymous with amassing tremendous amounts of wealth. But the problem is that there's this huge disparity between the 1% and the vast majority of other business owners. And I think we all get caught up in this trap of scaling. I want to scale up my business and one day I'm going to sell it and cash in and then sail off into the Bahamas and drink rum out of a coconut for the rest of my days. But the scary statistic, Alison, is that less than 6% of businesses are ever sold for a profit, if they're ever sold at all. And this all couples together to turn our business into a cash eating monster as opposed to a profit making machine. That's really the biggest problem. We need to reposition that business as a vehicle, a wealth creation vehicle that allows us to create financial freedom even if we don't sell our business. And if we do, that just becomes cream on top to accelerate our position.

Yeah. Wow, that is huge. And I do know that statistic and we talk about it a lot with our clients and it's always like, well, in the future, I'll get there someday. Well, like that's now. Like you have to start planning for this now. And, and you know, and I am sure you experienced it firsthand with your parents and it's painful to watch. What do you feel like, Jackson, are some of the limiting beliefs and roadblocks that you Notice that most CEOs that keep them from taking these steps from creating true abundance in their business, investing in themselves, things like that.

Yeah. This is where you and I connect really well is that we have a very similar philosophy around scaling the right way. And I think most founders believe that scaling requires cash burn. If I want to grow my business, if I want to create this multi seven figure or multi eight figure or nine figure or even bigger business, it requires me to sacrifice and compromise and reinvest all of that cash flow back into scaling. I call bullshit on that because I'm a big believer in creating a plan that allows you to have your cake and eat it too. We're all taught by previous generations because I think for our parents and our parents parents, they had less choice than we do today that we're afforded today. And the only way you could create wealth back then was to shrink yourself wealthy. It was to be frugal. It was to be careful when it come to your money is to be extremely wise and Take really calculated and considered risks. But this day and age there is an abundance of opportunity and there is a formula that allows you to grow and scale your business profitably, that allows you to live an amazing lifestyle without compromise, no cornflakes or cat food for dinner, and also have enough personal surplus where you can build personal wealth outside of your business all at the same time. And what that comes down to is being able to have a roadmap that allows you to do all of those things. Setting a clear income and surplus target and then making smart forward facing decisions to allocate that surplus into those various buckets to fuel all of your goals and aspirations.

Yeah, I love that. And so what do you feel like if you could share maybe a few strategies to help some of our, you know, getting that big vision. But for some of our listeners here, maybe that you've helped them to create wealth by working smarter, not harder. Are there some things they should be looking at shifting?

Yeah, there's really three things, Alison. So the first one is you need a personal roadmap that gets you from where you are now to what you define as financial freedom. What we do with our clients is we actually help them create a 20 year roadmap of all of their lifestyle and financial goals. And we unpack that by understanding the answers to three very simple questions. One, what is fundamentally important to you? What are your non negotiables? Two, assuming that your non negotiables have been achieved, what then becomes goals, dreams and aspirations for you? And three, what is the significance of those goals, dreams and aspirations to you and your family? Because if we get to the root cause of that, we can actually identify our own personal drivers as opposed to the things that society tells us that we should want in this society that we're in. And it allows us to get laser focused. Two, you need to set income targets. This is about us understanding for you to be able to achieve all of those goals. How much income do you need to earn and what do you need to do with that income? We've developed a 40 point performance scorecard of the top financial bottlenecks and things that get in the way of most entrepreneurs creating financial freedom. And vast majority of those, if implemented and fixed, will drastically improve cash flow to allow us to supercharge our trajectory on that roadmap. And then the third thing is pay yourself first. There's a book, and I'm sure many people have read it, the Richest man in Babylon. And the fundamental principle of that book is that it's not the money that you earn that matters. It's the money that you keep that that counts. Your business will consume the resources that it is made available to it. So if you pay yourself first and then you run your business on what is left, it will always find a way. And this is backed by a behavioral principle called Parkinson's law. Have you come across Parkinson's Law, Alison?

I have. That is. That's not the 8020 rule. Is that what you're talking about?

A little bit different. So Parkinson's Law is a behavioral principle that governs all of us as human beings. And it basically means that as humans, we use the means we have available. So if there's more means available, we will use those means. The analogy I like to use is like, when you're back at school doing an assignment and you had eight weeks to do it, when would you start it?

Right. Like the day before a lot of times.

Exactly.

You'd always get it done. You've got a deadline.

Exactly. You've got a deadline. So Parkinson's law works in that context, but it also works with our money. And if you don't pay yourself first, you're going to suffer from this phenomenon called the cash flow creep. Whereas your business grows, and as the revenue increases, your expenses are going to increase proportionately. So we've just got to take those chips off the table, limit the means, and we'll limit the means we use.

I love all of these things that you shared, you know, especially those first three questions at the beginning, really getting to the underlying why and that driver. And I think that we don't stop enough to really get connected to those things. Right. Those are the things that get you out of bed in the morning. And then I also really love this idea, too, of the paying yourself first. And I remember when I had to learn to make that shift, because the idea, as a business owner, you're like, no, I'll pay myself. Let me pay everybody. I owe you. And let me see what I have left at the end. Right. Because that's normally how we think. But what I realized that is that, that you're thinking from a place of survival instead of thriving. And so when I started doing just an auto transfer, you know, into my savings account, you know, with my salary, and I, you know, I came up with a number, and I said, I don't care what happens. This money is going into my account every month. It's amazing how it shows up. Right?

So powerful.

Yeah, that was a huge change for me.

Yeah, we see this as well. With a Lot of our clients. It's like the other analogy I use is if you're on an airplane and there's an emergency, the sign says, put your mask on first before helping others. And it's just that same thing. Like, you're not in a position to help people when you're in a mindset of scarcity. And if you're not valuing yourself, if you're not paying yourself what you're worth, if you're compromising your own personal values in pursuit of feeding everybody else and growing your business, and those things aren't congruent, it is going to have a drastic impact on your results in all aspects of your life. It's costing you money in your business, it's costing you money personally. It's potentially even taxing your relationships. And we've seen, even just through implementing some of these fundamentals, the dynamics at home between husband and wife have fundamentally changed because it allows us to flip that. And it has an impact in all aspects.

Yeah, it's very important for relationships. Right. Getting on the same page. But I do believe that everything you shared is just so, so important. And having a roadmap, not just winging it. Right. And kind of taking it day by day like so many business owners do. What does financial freedom mean to you?

Yeah, financial freedom for me is about being able to do what I want, when I want, with whom I want, if I even want to do it at all. And I boil this down into what we call the F3. It's the financial freedom figure. It is what would be the amount of passive income that I would have to have coming in each and every single month for me to have complete freedom of choice about what I do with my time. And for me, it's 200,000. If I have 200,000 a year, then I'll have enough to be able to live the lifestyle that I want and I don't have to work. I will never retire, Alison. I have no intention to ever retire. But having the ability to work in the things that you're really passionate about and not have to work because you have to is a really powerful position to be in. And what I then do is I reinforce that with a formula. So the formula is very simple. It is F3. So whatever your annual financial freedom figure is divided by five times by 100. And this is the amount of net wealth that you need outside of your business and outside of your home to be able to achieve that passive income target in perpetuity. So it's F3 divided by five times, by 100. So for me personally, that's $4 million of net worth.

I just wrote that. I just wrote that down. I think that's really powerful. Right. That's what people want. Like, how much am I going to need so that I am on an ongoing basis so that I can have that financial freedom? And then that is your North Star. Right? That's what you're intending on creating.

Exactly. And for myself personally, I measure all of my decisions against what I call the triple bottom line. Does it improve my profit? Does it help me buy back my time? Or does it help me improve my wealth? And if the decisions that I'm making don't elevate any of those three areas in some way, shape or form, I just don't do it. And this is just shifting that frame as an entrepreneur to not chase vanity metrics and make sure that we're focusing on things that are really going to make a meaningful difference. And knowing that number is critically important because I find many entrepreneurs abdicate financial responsibility, whether it's to a fiduciary or a money manager or a financial advisor. And there's nothing wrong with those people, but no one will ever take as much responsibility and have as much care for your money as you will. So you need to learn these fundamentals so you can then choose what you outsource, if anything.

Yeah, And I like what you're saying also, because you could have investments, you could be in the stock market, you can have mutual funds, you can be in crypto. Right. But is it working towards a bigger plan? Right. And that's what I see that you're talking about. Otherwise, you have all these things in different places. And honestly, if you don't have a real big vision that you're working towards, you know, you could be losing money or wasting time. And I love the three things you said. If it's not making money, if it's not giving you your time back and it's not growing your wealth, was that the three things?

That's it. Yeah.

Yeah. Then don't do it. Like, that makes the decision so much easier.

Exactly. We need these filters in life, Alison, because most of us, we look at things subjectively, emotionally reactively, and we only have 2020 vision in hindsight, where we might look back on it and say, that was a really great decision. I did a good job there, or, hey, I really wish I didn't do that. And by having these filters, these lenses that we can use to objectively assess the decisions that we make, the path that we choose by pass or fail. It makes us much more confident in the decision making and it reduces the amount of failures that we need to make in pursuit of achieving what it is that we really want. Because it's the rose tinted glasses that lead you astray and get you chasing silly things that could cost you hundreds of thousands. In many cases I've seen cost millions of dollars just by not having these filters in place before.

The fact that, yeah, that's so powerful. Now you and I talk about scaling, right? And where I feel we're definitely on sync is getting the business owner out of the day to day. And so what are some of the important questions, you know, that you have to, you know, or what do you, what do you feel like? Let me back up here. What are some of the challenges that you feel that business owners struggle with? Being the expert, being the technician, the, you know, the one that they're handling everything right. The business is kind of consuming them instead of them running it. What are your thoughts on this?

It's a really important point and I think the first thing we need to identify, and I look at this from a wealth position. Are we turning the business into a wealth asset or is it just the cash creation machine? And if we can define the difference between a cash flow business and a growth business. Now typically speaking, there's nothing wrong with being an expert business. Like being an expert allows you to charge a premium to produce immense amounts of cash flow. And that's fine. You realize you have a cash flow business that has very little value because you can't sell yourself. There's a lot of key person risk. The business might be worth something in terms of the IP and whatnot, but we should treat it as a cash creation machine. And the key to that is acknowledging it and making sure that you have a system for turning that cash flow into wealth. Because the reality is your business isn't going to be worth much. Or if your business is a growth business, meaning that it's a business that you can remove yourself from the day to day operations. You can disconnect your effort from your income. You can create a system that can produce results without you being involved, then you have an asset. What you need to do is you need to put yourself in the shoes of a buyer. If you're a buyer of your business, what would you look for? What would be valuable for you? And you might need to speak to a business broker, you might need to actually speak to some potential buyers. And your job should be if you've Got a growth asset and you are building your business into a saleable asset of understanding how do you maximize that value. And once again it's just another North Star. It allows you to say, hey, do I want to pat my ego and still be involved and hold on to these things or am I going to allow the ego death to occur so that I can chase this big 7 multi 7 figure 8 figure 9 figure valuation and sell out? So it's just about repositioning and once again having lenses to evaluate where you invest your time and attention.

Yeah, I love it. These are very important things to think about and get support on. Right. So what do you feel sets you apart? I mean you talked a little bit about the difference between an advisor, you know, somebody that's going to get you into different types of investments or products and. But what sets you specifically apart from other wealth mentors.

Yeah, I think anybody who's watching this as a video can immediately see that I don't look like a typical finance professional. I'm a down to earth person. I practice what I preach, I'm following the exact same path and taking my own advice. And I've been able to go from a position of almost being in bankrupt as a result of having to save a family home and my dad got really sick having my first business fail and rack up multi six figures in bad debt and really nearly hitting that big red stop button and waiting seven years for the dust to pass. But no, I decided I was going to earn my way out of that situation and I went from a multi six figure negative net worth to creating now a $6 million business with a multi seven figure net worth and creating financial freedom at 32. And I'm living financial freedom now. I live in my dream home. I spent 12 months traveling around Australia in a four wheel drive. I'm trying to practice what I preach and lead the way through example. And I find most of our clients resonate with that now. They want to create a lifestyle business, they want more quality experiences with their family, they want to enjoy the fruits of their labor now. They don't want to wait until they're 65 and they're old and to retire. And for that reason they embody our mantra which is live for today and plan for tomorrow. So our approach is done with you. It's personal, it's simple, it's relatable, systematic and it's easy to follow. And it's really about taking that burden off their shoulders of what they feel is the responsibility of managing their money and Getting them excited about it again. So that's what makes this different in a nutshell.

Yeah, I really love that because it's all encompassing and especially for the business owner. Right. And to think of it more as an asset separate from themselves. You know, most business owners don't do that. It is they, they do feel like it is their baby. But we're not going to die with our business. The business is going to die. At some point it's going to close. So you might as well have a plan for it.

I agree 100%. So important reposition as that vehicle have it give you the value that you deserve to derive from it and lift the drink. That's what it's all about.

Awesome. And so here we are, we're in the new year. And you know, you, you had a big vision for last year. You got to the end of the year, you looked at your P and L or you looked at your savings account and you're like, wait a minute, it didn't grow or you're investments or your plan and it's a new year, new start. What do you feel would be one really great thing besides working with you? And I'm going to give your information because I'm sure some people are going to want to hear about how to work with you. But what is something they could do right now just to get focused on building their wealth? Yeah.

I think the first thing to realize is that it's never too late. All right? Don't feel hopeless or feel like you're falling behind your peers. We need to stop benchmarking ourselves to others in this kind of stuff because we're all running our own race. So the first thing we need to do is we need to identify the low hanging fruit, which is the reason why we put together that financial performance scorecard. We've done this with thousands of entrepreneurs and business owners around the world. And what's the scary thing, Alison, is the average score is about 18 out of 40, which means most business owners are below average financially. No matter what your score is, what this is about doing is it's about turning the lights on financially and identifying the things that you might answer no to. Now that we can turn into a yes in the next 1, 2, 3, 6, 12 months. And this is about focusing on progress over perfection. Typically when people do the scorecard, they can add 5 to 10 to their school within the space of 12 to 18 months easily. And that could be representative of tens of thousands of dollars a month in excess cash flow and millions of Dollars of hidden wealth opportunities if implemented properly. So there's a lot of what we call wealth treasure chests that exist that are under the surface that just people don't know are there. So it's about identifying them, optimizing them and then reaping the rewards. So we'll include a link for you guys to put in the show notes. It'll take you five minutes. It'll give you some clarity and it'll help you pick your mark.

That's fantastic. I think everybody should do that scorecard. Right? And I. And just having the awareness, first of all, just knowing where you're at is the beginning of change and you know, and then of course, getting the steps to move forward. Do you have a link that I can share now? We will also have it, you know, in the notes and so forth, but we'll put it on the screen. But can you share what that link is?

Yep. So if you guys go to book wealth-mentor.com that are you. So that's book.wealth mentor.com gift page. What that'll take you to is you can get copies of my international best selling books for free. You get access to the scorecard and there's also some details there. If you want to reach out and have a conversation about how we might be able to help you really level up your money game in 2022 and beyond. I'd love to have an opportunity to serve you.

I love that. We will definitely put. That's a longer link than I thought. So we will put that up and so they get that. And Jackson, thank you so much. Thank you for the work you do. It's so, so important and I know you really care about these business owners the way I do. So keep doing what you're doing. And thank you so much. Absolute pleasure on Scale or Fail podcast.

Thank you so much for having me.

Yeah, definitely. We will definitely have you back. And let us know what you all think. Absolutely. Give us a review and. And we can't wait to see you next time on the Scale or Fail show. Bye everybody. If you enjoyed this episode of Scale or Fail and you are a business owner in the high six figures, seven figures, eight figures, and you're sitting there thinking, you know, here it is a new year and I'm working 60, 80 hours a week in my business and I just want to get my life back, but I really want to multiply my growth right then it really is your time to scale and there is a way, there is a formula for you to multiply your growth and it's about working smarter, not harder. So if that is you, I personally invite you to watch this quick video about our upcoming event, Level Up Live that's happening on February 10th to the 12th, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. This is our 12th year leading this event and you are literally will leave this event with a step by step roadmap to scale your company. So let's watch the video. You're going to hear from many of the attendees how it changed their life. My name is Alison Maslin and I've built 10 companies and scaled them well into the eight figures. And I'm pretty proud about that because I was a single mom. I did this all on my own. And it all changed for me when I understood how to create the multiplayer, how to build a team managed company beyond me. So now I'm able to help thousands of people transform their lives and that's what gets me excited every single day. So if this is you, if you're there going, oh my God, that is me, that's my life. And you know that there's more. I want you to register right now. It's called called Level Up Live. This is our 11th year leading this event. It has literally impacted thousands of business owners just like you. And this year we're taking it virtual like you've never experienced it before. We are in a full on studio with a stage and surround sound and cameras and we have hundreds of business owners tuning in, being present for the three days to transform your life. And you're going to leave with a step by step plan customized for your company. I was scattered all over the place and just trying to just survive running the business.

My biggest challenge was lack of systems, lack of structure. Usually waking up at 2, 3 in the morning, just get the day's work done going and I was exhausted.

I was really struggling with wearing too many hats. You know, I was the operations manager, I was the sales manager. You know, I was trying to generate new revenue streams.

The best part about this event is that you walk away with an entire plan for the year. You discover what products you're going to create, how you're going to increase your revenue, how you're going to scale your business.

Hire a team.

I was able to learn how to effectively delegate, how to effectively hire, how to set up scalable systems and processes and how to ensure that the cash flow is healthy. While my business is growing, I've been able to increase our profit margin to be above industry standard and I have been able to delete a lot of my patients. We've hired more providers and I have a lot more time and I have more work life balance ever before. And my team is really helping to manage and grow the company which is amazing. At the Scale it event I learned so many strategies that I could have implemented right away and which changed the trajectory of the business. It's like having a tribe of people that are just rooting for you and actually giving you so much more than you're even in giving them. And so for me what has actually changed is that I really am now again excited about my business and where it can go. Favorite part about this event is just being around so many high level CEOs, entrepreneurs, people who are really ready to take the next level and maximize everything that they're doing in their business and scale it and build teams and really kind of building their dream in their business.

Well, we've added 12 new positions to the company. We've increased revenue about 43%. We've increased profit by 111% this year.

Because it really in just such a short amount of time I've got so much more free time to enjoy my kids and my family and I've got a thriving business that's growing. Started with one program that was an eight week course where we were charging about $4,000. Since then we've created seven new courses, seven new training modules, plus an annual membership model with pricing up to $30,000 which I never thought people I didn't know how to get there, I didn't know how to charge for that and how to structure it. And we just got a formal valuation of our business a few weeks ago for $10 million. And that just blew my mind because I can leverage the business and grow it faster now that we have that valuation. So it's helping me get credit lines, building a team and really showing the vision of what we're trying to do.

Can you tell I am so excited about this. The seats are going fast. We're almost full. The event is approaching. Grab your seat right now. You don't need to keep hitting that wall. This is your time. Let's scale your business together. I cannot wait to see you there. Go to levelup live event dot com.